artlung. at cajon speedway (Summer 2004)
onward.

July, 2004: 42 posts.

I’ve been featured on 3-Blogs A Day

And what a lovely write-up — 3-Blogs A Day: 1 part green + 2 parts ArtLung, add a dash of Dalton — stir and serve chilled over HTTP://:

“ArtLung:Blog: ArtLung, along with blogger Joe Crawford’s website, has to be one of the largest and most extensive personal websites I have ever been privy to. Boasting more than 250 pages of various topics you could spend days sifting through his site. However what we are talking about here is his blog. With posts ranging from various tech bits, to news stories (mostly California news as that is where he resides), to crazy stream of consciousness nonsense it makes for fairly interesting reading. Being a Web designer his layout is clean and crisp with sidebars containing the usual amount of links. Even more interesting is the story of how he went from being a respiratory care specialist to currently handling sales, marketing, & communications for a web hosting company. Not exactly an easy transition to make if you ask me. That’s like an actor trying to be a politician or someth–oh nevermind, bad joke. I really liked this site, and reading about how Joe got to wear he is. Quite the inspiration for a fella like myself, keep up the good work man. Powered By: Blogger

Thanks for writing, SmmFryGuy!

And you think you have problems?

Thoughts From My Broken Brain: “I’m 37 years old and have just been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I started this blog to chronical my journey.”

Quote of the Day

“In the fight between you and the world, back the world.”

– Frank Zappa

(despite that, I am optimistic, says I)

Quote of the Day

The spacecraft has apparently been taken over – “conqured” if you will – by a master race of giant space ants. It’s difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume the captive earth men or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain: there is no stopping them; the ants will soon be here. And I for one welcome our new insect overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted TV personality I could be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground sugar caves.

– Kent Brockman, The Simpsons (via tvtome.com)

Tony Pierce Inspires Me Sometimes

Today is a day for inspirational browsing

Frustratingly beautiful use of the web: fray: fireworks.

Writing will get you reported

Careful where you type the word “bomb” — I write badly, therefore I am a would-be terrorist (HoustonChronicle.com).

Little Updates

Projects of Joe Crawford has been updated a little bit. Still tweaking.

Retroactive classification!

Translator in eye of storm on retroactive classification (Boston.com):

“Sifting through old classified materials in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, FBI translator Sibel Edmonds said, she made an alarming discovery: Intercepts relevant to the terrorist plot, including references to skyscrapers, had been overlooked because they were badly translated into English.”

How much more 1984 doublespeak can you get than “retroactive classification.”

http://www.google.com/aol/

What is the deal with this url: http://www.google.com/aol/ ?

IPV9

I love that I started a page on Wikipedia about IPv9. It’s since grown and become quite useful.

Collective knowledge is power!

Power to the swarm!

San Diego Blog

Repurposing a message I sent to the “staff” of San Diego Blog.

Hi-De-Ho Neighbors.

You’re getting this because you’re registered on http://sandiegoblog.com/

For the past month, I’ve made it a goal to have *at least* one post a day on San Diego Blog. Something interesting, something cool, a photo — SOMETHING. I’d really love it if you all could take a peruse back through the archives: http://sandiegoblog.com/archives/2004/07/ and http://sandiegoblog.com/archives/2004/06/ and take a look and tell me what was cool, what was lame — and if you have any suggestions for stories. I’m doing this all for no money at this point — and I can see that maintaining a [newspaper|magazine|tv show] is real work. But it’s nice to know that with WordPress when I have a run of good ideas I can “post them forward” into the future. So, for example, for the next few days I already have posts ready to go.

I know it seems like I’m the only one posting — but that does not have to be the only state of affairs. You’re all welcome to post about San Diego here!

Actually, not everyone is welcome. There are many link spammers and idiots who would love to post, but really I want people who care about San Diego, and have something to say.

So — I guess I’m again begging your indulgence for feedback and stories that should be covered. Some stories bouncing around my noggin that are not really stories yet are:

  • was there a plan to blow up the strand if the coronado bridge was blown up — to allow egress of navy ships?
  • history of the giant dipper roller coaster (it was dormant for YEARS!)
  • the san ysidro mcDonald’s shooting
  • the dredging of “False Bay” to make “Mission Bay”
  • famous San Diego Bands
  • radio stations that used to exist (Mighty 690, for example) in San Diego
  • Unarius Society — cable access nutballs for years
  • history of the PSA skytower at sea world and the lights (they didn’t always keep those lights on) — maybe a history of sea world (like –what was it like on opening day?)
  • great record stores in San Diego (Lou’s, Blue Meanie, Off The Record, etc)
  • famous people who got their starts in San Diego (e.g.: Regis Philbin, Whoopi Goldberg, Racquel Welch, Tom Waits)
  • ____________________________ <- insert your idea here!

If any of you would like to tackle any of these things, I’d really dig it. If you just have factlets or links that are like the germs of a story, I’d dig that too.

Thanks for listening to me brainstorm! I appreciate your time.

Best, Joe

Now, I intended this only to be for the writers — particularly the story ideas, and it’s probably not too bright to be sharing my “behind the curtain” thoughts. But really, why not? Anyone who wanted to write about San Diego could have all these ideas. And if someone local writes about them, I can just point to *them* from San Diego Blog.

When I look at pageviews for the site it’s not that impressive (under 300 pageviews a day) — still that’s 5 pageviews an hour. This measure of “pageviews” is analgous to “readership” or “circulation” — but it’s building. And as I build in more utility and interest by providing interesting stories, people will come back.

It’s late, and I am full of ideas, but now, I’m tired.

Delaying the democratic election to preserve the democratic process

Offered without comment: Wonkette: We Had to Burn the Democracy in Order to Save It:

Last week, Homeland Security honcho Tom Ridge warned that al Qaeda may be planning to a large-scale attack ‘in an effort to disrupt the democratic process.’ So of course what should we do if one happens in early November? Well, Ridge’s number two has an idea: Delay the elections! So best.

Because the terrorists hate our freedom, you know. And if we allow the democratic process to move forward, the terrorists will have won! It all makes so much sense, I think my head might explode!

Actually, we’re sort of starting to get it. Like, if al Qaeda bombed all the voting places, that would make it hard to hold an election. Or if they somehow purged a bunch of law-abiding citizens off the voter rolls for no reason. Or maybe if they rigged up a black box electronic voting system. Or threw the whole thing to the Supreme Court. Those things would be a problem, democracy-wise.

Spider Man 2 Was Good

Curious about some of the characters in the movie and how they appear in the comics? Marvel Directory has more: # # # # # # # # #

Two weeks ago Leah and I saw Spider Man 2. It was good.

Quote of the Day: Abraham Lincoln

Lincoln on the 1864 Presidential Election

We can not have free government without elections; and if the rebellion could force us to forego, or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us.

Wikipedia kicks Encarta’s Ass

So Francophile TomBickle.com mentions that it’s Bastille Day and refers to the Encarta entry for Bastille, which is to the point, but a little thin. As an experiment I checked out my personal favorite encyclopedia (yeah, I have a favorite encyclopedia) Wikipedia — and Wikipedia entry for Bastille is great — and it links to a page for Bastille, which then links to a cool Timeline of the French Revolution.

Wikipedia was built and maintained by amatuers. Encarta by professionals. It makes no sense that Encarta would be so much worse.

Some things about the web make no sense, and I love that.

lab.artlung.com

I got this message about lab.artlung.com from someone named andy:

cant read links with all the background text, site would be good otherwise. can’t look at your site for more than one min without my eyes blurring

Andy is right. I need to rethink the look and organization of that site.

I promise to improve it before the month is out!

Where Song Title Includes Rock

An iTunes Smart Playlist by Joe Crawford

  1. Barefoot Rock — The Blasters
  2. Big Rock Candy Mountain — Harry McClintock
  3. Block Rockin’ Beats — Chemical Brothers
  4. Clash City Rockers — The Clash
  5. Cool Breeze On The Rocks — De La Soul
  6. Cyclops Rock — They Might Be Giants
  7. Don’t Stop The Rock — Chemical Brothers
  8. Dr. Rock — Ween
  9. F***in’ With My Head (Mountain Dew Rock) — Beck
  10. Help, I’m A Rock — Frank Zappa
  11. High 5 (Rock the Catskills) — Beck
  12. I Am A Rock — Simon & Garfunkel
  13. Keen On Rockin’ It — Luscious Jackson
  14. Like A Rock — Bob Seger
  15. Limbo Rock / Hand Jive — Brave Combo
  16. Moon Rocks — Talking Heads
  17. Old Time Rock And Roll — Bob Seger
  18. Punk Rock T-Shirt Melting — Stew
  19. Rock ‘n’ Roll — Motorhead
  20. Rock And Roll Will Stand — The Blasters
  21. Rock Boppin’ Baby (Live) — The Blasters
  22. Rock Freak — Luscious Jackson
  23. Rock Hard — The Beastie Boys
  24. Rock In This Pocket (Song Of David) — Suzanne Vega
  25. Rock Lobster — The B-52’s
  26. Rock Me Right — Susan Tedeschi
  27. Rock Music — Pixies
  28. Rock Star — Ben Folds
  29. Rock the Casbah — The Clash
  30. Rock the Shack — New Order
  31. Rocket Man — Kate Bush
  32. Rockets Tail — Kate Bush
  33. Rockin’ Back Inside My Heart — Julee Cruise
  34. Rockin’ Chair — Tom Waits
  35. Rockin’ Down The Highway — The Doobie Brothers
  36. Rockin’ In The Free World — David Byrne
  37. Running On The Rocks — Shriekback
  38. Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While) — The Doobie Brothers
  39. The Campaign For Real Rock — Edwyn Collins
  40. The Hokey Pokey (Rock Style) — Brave Combo
  41. The Rockafeller Skank — Fatboy Slim
  42. The Rockford Files Theme — Mike Post
  43. The Ventures’ “Rocketing Rhythms” Interview — Ventures
  44. Ugly Truth Rock — Matthew Sweet
  45. We Want A Rock — They Might Be Giants
  46. Who Rocks The House — Jurassic 5

Post 1820

So I have been blogging for some time now.

And yet I have not blogged in some time now.

Leah points out that in writing over here, I’m writing much less here.

And that’s definitely true.

So what’s new?

It might be easier to ask — what is *not* new. What’s new is yes, I have been blogging up a storm on San Diego Blog. I really enjoy the discipline of having to get posts ready for each and every day. I set a post time of about 5am every day – and there’s something up. I really enjoy it. I have even had a teeny tiny less-than-one-could-live-on amount of advertising revenue (well, from that, from the lab, and from archives of this blog. It’s an experiment, really. If I could have my druthers professionally, I’d make my money by writing/editing websites, be working on my Bachelor’s and Master’s. Sadly, that’s not particularly in the cards right now, but I’m working on it.

On another note, Leah was looking for work toward L.A. — but it didn’t work out — still, the likelihood is that we’re moving towards L.A. in the future. For those of you wondering — “how can you be Mr. San Diego and move to L.A.?” — well, maybe I’m Mr. Southern California? Working out of my home, it matters less and less where I live. And there are a multitude of couches I can sleep in in San Diego so I can still keep my hand here in the ‘Dago.

On another note: my parents and sister are in town. It’s been really wonderful having them here, despite me and Leah mostly just working last week. This week should be more familial. I’m having a good time.

There’s more I suppose — I want to do some laundry and cleaning — we’re having my folks and sister and her boyfriend over this week — and the house is an absolute mess.

Also doing work in counseling on some things. Lots going on. I think this process of me becoming myself has been a long time developing. At some point after my ex left I was destroyed and remade myself. At some point I thought I was more or less done. But I’m finding that’s not the way it is at all.

How it is actually is that I’m in a continual process of destroying and remaking myself and aspects of myself. It reminds me of the movie Life as a House — a metaphor for life (well, obviously) — but whose theme is how we have to live in our life, and to live, sometimes we build things up that don’t last, and we must be willing to confront those things, rebuild, change, and modify ourselves to be healthy.

Yeah, this felt good. It’s been too long since I blogged personally. I’m more convinced than ever that blogging is good for me.

Hey! I almost forgot…. ONWARD.

Need a Freight Forwarder?

You could do much worse than URM Cargo, which is a site I made several years ago. Seriously, URMCargo.

Plan

The plan today is maybe to hit La Jolla Cove with my family. It looks like it may be another beautiful day. Though it has been hot here in San Diego.

San Diegan’s don’t take well to unseasonable temperatures. We like our weather perfect, dagnabbit.

So what’s on my mind?

Actually, not much right now. Taking it easy. Comic-Con coming up soon. Not sure if I’m going to all 4 days or just one or two. But I’m pretty sure I need to go. Yeah. Need.

Client work is going well. Keeping busy on the work tip. That’s nice.

Hrm. Not much to say this morning. Okay. Take care.

What would happen if an actual Italian food expert went to Olive Garden?

An Apple iTunes Smart List

Featuring the word “Don’t”:

  1. Baby Please Don’t Go – Van Morrison
  2. Boys Don’t Cry – The Cure
  3. Brown Shoes Don’t Make It – Frank Zappa
  4. Don’t – Jewel
  5. Don’t Be Sad – Dwight Yoakam
  6. Don’t Believe The Hype – Public Enemy
  7. Don’t Break the Heart – Mono Puff
  8. Don’t Bring Me Down – Paul Shaffer
  9. Don’t Cha Stop – The Cars
  10. Don’t Come Around Here No More – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
  11. Don’t Cross The River – America
  12. Don’t Cry No Tears (Live) – Matthew Sweet
  13. Don’t Do Me Like That – Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
  14. Don’t Dream It’s Over – Paul Shaffer
  15. Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow – Frank Zappa
  16. Don’t Ever Dance With Maria – Brave Combo
  17. Don’t Fade Away – Dead Can Dance
  18. Don’t Fear the Reaper – Sifl & Olly
  19. Don’t Get 2 Close (2 My Fantasy) – Ween
  20. Don’t Give Up (w/Kate Bush) – Peter Gabriel
  21. Don’t Go – Matthew Sweet
  22. Don’t I Have the Right? – Mono Puff
  23. Don’t Know How To Party – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
  24. Don’t Know Why – Kostars
  25. Don’t Know Why – Norah Jones
  26. Don’t Know Why (Live/Leno) – Norah Jones
  27. Don’t Laugh (I Love You) – Ween
  28. Don’t Let’s Start – They Might Be Giants
  29. Don’t Let’s Start (Demo Version) – They Might Be Giants
  30. Don’t Let’s Start (Single Mix) – They Might Be Giants
  31. Don’t Look Back – Luscious Jackson
  32. Don’t Lose Your Mind – Miles Davis
  33. Don’t Make Me Love You – Christina Aguilera
  34. Don’t Marry Her – The Beautiful South
  35. Don’t Push Me Around – The Zeros
  36. Don’t Ruin Our Happy Home – Randy Newman
  37. Don’t Speak – No Doubt
  38. Don’t Stand So Close To Me – The Police
  39. Don’t Stand So Close To Me ’86 – The Police
  40. Don’t Stop – Fleetwood Mac
  41. Don’t Stop Swaying – Sophie B. Hawkins
  42. Don’t Stop The Dance – Bryan Ferry
  43. Don’t Stop The Rock – Chemical Brothers
  44. Don’t Sweat It – Ween
  45. Don’t Take Me Alive – Steely Dan
  46. Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) – The Beach Boys
  47. Don’t Tell Me – Blancmange
  48. Don’t Think I’m Not – Kandi
  49. Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right – Bryan Ferry
  50. Don’t Try To Explain – Keb’ Mo’
  51. Don’t Want To Be A Part Of Your World – David Byrne
  52. Don’t Want To Know – Bryan Ferry
  53. Don’t Worry About The Government – Talking Heads
  54. Don’t Worry Baby – Los Lobos
  55. Don’t Worry Baby – The Beach Boys
  56. Don’t You Ever Wash That Thing? – Frank Zappa
  57. Girl Don’t Tell Me – The Beach Boys
  58. God Don’t Make Lonely Girls – The Wallflowers
  59. Honey, Don’t You Want a Man Like Me? – Frank Zappa
  60. Hope I Don’T Fall In Love With You – Tom Waits
  61. How Come You Don’t Call Me Anymore – Prince
  62. I Don’t Care If You Go – Velocity Girl
  63. I Don’t Care If You Go (Acoustic) – Velocity Girl
  64. I Don’t Even Care – Frank Zappa
  65. I Don’t Know – The Beastie Boys
  66. I Don’t Like Mondays – Tori Amos
  67. I Don’t Mind – Jerry Harrison: Casual Gods
  68. I Don’t Mind If You Forget Me – Morrissey
  69. I Don’t Remember – Peter Gabriel
  70. I Don’t Understand You – They Might Be Giants
  71. I Don’t Wanna Get Drafted – Frank Zappa
  72. I Don’t Wanna Grow Up – Tom Waits
  73. I Don’t Want To (Live) – The Blasters
  74. I Don’t Want To Go To Chelsea – Elvis Costello & The Attractions
  75. I’m Dead ( But I Don’t Know it) – Randy Newman
  76. It Don’t Mean A Thing (If It Ain’t Got That Swing) – Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington
  77. Just Squeeze Me (But Don’t Tease Me) – Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington
  78. Look But Don’t Touch – Kenny Neal
  79. Now That I Don’t Have You – Jill Sobule
  80. Now You See It – Now You Don’t – Frank Zappa
  81. Oh Baby, Don’t You Loose Your Lip On Me – James Taylor
  82. Please Don’t Tell Me (What I Did Last Night) – The Red Elvises
  83. Please Don’t Worry About My Brain Change – Negro Problem
  84. Rikki Don’t Lose That Number – Steely Dan
  85. She Don’t Know Why I’m Here – The Last
  86. They Don’t Like Me – Lyle Lovett
  87. True Men Don’t Kill Coyotes – Red Hot Chili Peppers
  88. Walk-Don’t Run – Ventures
  89. What I Don’t Know – Dwight Yoakam
  90. Where Your Eyes Don’t Go – They Might Be Giants
  91. Why Don’t We Get Drunk – Jimmy Buffett
  92. Why Don’t We Get Drunk And Screw – Jimmy Buffett
  93. Why Don’t We Live Together – Pet Shop Boys
  94. Why Don’t You Like Me? – Frank Zappa
  95. You Don’t Exist Any More – Lil’ Ed And The Blues Imperials
  96. You Don’t Know Like I Know – Sam & Dave
  97. You Don’t Know What Love Is – Fenton Robinson
  98. You Don’t Know What You Mean to Me – Sam & Dave
  99. You Don’t Love Me – Matthew Sweet
  100. You Don’t Mess Around With Jim – Jim Croce
  101. Your Wife Don’t Understand You – The Simpsons

I like that list because it shows the depth and breadth (or lack thereof) of my music.

New Header, New Album: Cajon Speedway

I made a new header this morning, the grainy photo was taken earlier this month — July 3rd — at Cajon Speedway. It was the first time I’d ever been.

Basically a whole lot of crazy guys drove as fast as they could for what they called an “Enduro Race.” Here’s the text wrap-up, and here are the photos.

I also took some shots with Leah’s camera. They are in the photo gallery.

The cars got beat to all hell on that race. It was really something to see.

Whew

Comic Con today was huge. Went with my sister and her boyfriend. It was awesome, and did I mention huge?

I have a crazy idea to take a picture of each and every booth, though as I think about it it sounds like an insane and foolhardy idea. Though that makes me want to do it more.

Oi. So tired. Not many purchases, but a good good time.

Too tired to write more.

More another time.

G’night.

A Curious Character

So it seems Caleb John Clark., sometime San Diegan and all-around-interesting guy, is still out in the world. He’s an east-coaster now — but I forgive him.

Caleb’s one of the few people I have met a few times in person to talk about running communities. Others include Dennis Wilen and Matt Haughey, as well as the whole evolt.org crew a few years ago.

There’s something specific about running an online community that can only be experienced by doing it. Sure, reading Many 2 Many and Clay Shirky can do it, but to be able to conversate in person — it’s unique.

Browser Wars, Part Infinity

Internet Explorer: IEBlog

Mozilla: MozillaZine

Safari: Surfin’ Safari

Tired: Browser Wars
Wired: Browser Weblog Wars

Con again today!

Comic Con Photos

Comic Con 2004 photos (Friday edition) are up: ArtLung Photos :: Comic Con 2004

Ted Turner on Media Consolidation, Government, The Law, Small Business

“My Beef With Big Media” by Ted Turner:

“Today, media companies are more concentrated than at any time over the past 40 years, thanks to a continual loosening of ownership rules by Washington. The media giants now own not only broadcast networks and local stations; they also own the cable companies that pipe in the signals of their competitors and the studios that produce most of the programming. To get a flavor of how consolidated the industry has become, consider this: In 1990, the major broadcast networks–ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox–fully or partially owned just 12.5 percent of the new series they aired. By 2000, it was 56.3 percent. Just two years later, it had surged to 77.5 percent.

In this environment, most independent media firms either get gobbled up by one of the big companies or driven out of business altogether. Yet instead of balancing the rules to give independent broadcasters a fair chance in the market, Washington continues to tilt the playing field to favor the biggest players. Last summer, the FCC passed another round of sweeping pro-consolidation rules that, among other things, further raised the cap on the number of TV stations a company can own.

In the media, as in any industry, big corporations play a vital role, but so do small, emerging ones. When you lose small businesses, you lose big ideas. People who own their own businesses are their own bosses. They are independent thinkers. They know they can’t compete by imitating the big guys–they have to innovate, so they’re less obsessed with earnings than they are with ideas. They are quicker to seize on new technologies and new product ideas. They steal market share from the big companies, spurring them to adopt new approaches. This process promotes competition, which leads to higher product and service quality, more jobs, and greater wealth. It’s called capitalism.

Read the whole thing. It’s awesome.

Elfur!

Elfur is linking to me with her new site.

I used to be an admin on evolt.org, and Elfur was a fellow admin. A few years ago I met her and many other evolters at SXSW. That was so cool. She’s from Iceland, lives in Iceland, and has a kid and does web design. And hey, she links to me.

Anyway. I think it’s cool. I wish her well in her blogging activities!

HEY BABY HEY BABY HEY

Tom Bickle is a new daddy.

Congrats!

And Janece is coming due real soon now.

Babies all ’round.

Talk about onward man!

Joe as Star Wars Toy

At the Con the Star Wars people had a booth where you could pretend to be an action figure.

For those of you wondering what I would look like as a Star Wars toy, wonder no more.

Titan Magazines

So I’m going over the crap I picked up at Comic-Con, and found a promo for Titan Magazines. You know, they have monthly and bimonthly magazines for fans of tv shows. The titles are: Alias, Angel, Bufffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Smallville, and Stargate SG-1, and a catchall magazine called Dreamwatch.

At first I was laughing at the prospect that people had that much of a need for news about the show Charmed, but then I realized that there is a magazine called CBS Soaps in Depth, dedicated only to the goings on of CBS soap operas.

So maybe people really need a magazine for Stargate SG-1.

Stray URLs from Comic Con Schwag

Okay, so here’s where I do the traditional “go-through-my-con-crud” and extract the pearls and throw out everything. It’s always fun for me. It’s better than my old technique — which was to packrat it all for years and never look at it again.

And it begins…

Design Studio Press has awesome books about concept design. Reminds me of Syd Mead stuff. Some of the books have a how-to flavor that is nifty. A bit expensive though.

Broccoli Books does a bunch of manga. They even have a blog. I quite like their cute hats, though I can’t see myself wearing one.

Anime Gamers USA has all things manga and anime, looks like. They do mail-order and have a store in L.A.

Donato Giancola does wonderful painting with fantasy and science fiction themes. Faramir at Osgiliath is particularly moving. And Inheritors of Earth has some interesting Blade Runner-esque stuff happening in it.

Marusan Toy has some cool giant robots, but they’re not cool enough to overcome a bad website hampered by too many levels and a clunky English vs. Japanese interface.

play is a (new?) magazine for videogames. I’m gonna sign up for my FREE 3-issue RISK-FREE NO OBLIGATION subscription and try it out.

Lynne Naylor has some cool sixties-style retro-art going on. I can’t remember when I picked up this postcard, but it’s nifty. Her site has more of her work, not exactly my taste, but it has a great look. I like this one in particular. Worth a look for those looking for cool art. Her work reminds me of something Joelle would use in a blog theme.

Stolle Art Studio has a really engaging website. I really like the straightforward presentation on their gallery page. Browsing through their gallery images is nifty. Here’s a rendering of Captain Caveman, and the girly art is engaging as well — some of it elegant, some of it has really great color schemes, though much of it is too skanky/Maxim-style for my own tastes. But I wish the girls featured some smiles. Something about girl-art looking sexy but not smiling turns me off. I really wanted to like more of these illustrations more than I did. Maybe next year there will be more engaging work.

Subculture Array had some neat jewelry at their booth at the Con, but I’m really turned off that the site, when I go there looks like a porn site. I just want to look at the jewelry. Oh, and also, their urls are way long and bum me out with their seeming impermanence. *whine*

Metal Box Comics seems like a one-person (Andy Chang) outfit with a free comic online: The Adventures of Sniffy. It seems to be a story about a cat, robots, a printer out of ink, and some cat print-outs. Seeing this makes me want to do my own comic. Probably online.

DC Direct has some cool and useless merchandise. I really like the action figures based on The Dark Knight Returns: Batman, Superman, Joker, and Robin.

The Machinist is a movie starring Christian Bale as a guy who has not slept in a year. The reviews call it an “existential horror film.” That description makes me not want to see it. It sneak previewed at the Con, but I missed it.

City of Heroes is a MMORPG (massively multiplayer online roleplaying game) where you can be a superhero. Cool idea. I know Joe and Meg play it and like it. I sometimes feel guilty for not being into videogames anymore. Not that I ever really was. But I guess my addictive videogame is blogging. Heh.

Shocker Toys: Shockinis appears to be the copycat of another toy — Stikfas — generic toys you can customize into any kind of figure you want.

The Festering Season is a graphic novel with some great reviews. The sample pages are kind of cool, but I find myself feeling lukewarm about it.

Animation Trip presents computer graphic films, and have been doing it for more than 15 years. I think I remember attending “The Mind’s Eye” a long time ago.

Black Bolt Entertainment does comics. Their one-page website tells me nothing about whether or not I might want to read their comics.

If you want Peanuts-related stuff, check out SnoopyStoreCatalog.com.

Big Red Hair features comics and robots. Heartbreakers is a series of science-fiction comic books and graphic novels by writer Anina Bennett and artist Paul Guinan.

“Mauga Productions” has no url I can find, but they claim to have “the world’s first hip hop based audio comic.” What the hell is an audio comic book?

Goats is an online comic. It’s moderately funny from doing some reading of random Goats strips. I’m not impressed by the strips but I like the random feature.

It’s a Chick Productions makes films. One is called Agent 15. The trailer is underwhelming.

Rose Madder is kind of a cute manga. Some funny comics and a good sense of humor. this one made me chuckle.

Xipster is some kind of make-an-animation and share it type thing. Their website says “With XIPSTER in your hands your creativity can run wild. Use XIPSTER to make outrageous movies and the send them to your friends. Soon you can controll the world..” though their mispelling of “control” does give me pause as to targeting teachers… “XIPSTER is the hottest new way to introduce animation into the classroom. Teachers everywhere are discovering XIPSTER’s power to energize the learning experience.” Supposedly I can make movies with the software. The movies are nifty. But what is this? Stop motion? Canned clips? The download is 38 Megabytes and Windows only. But I only found that out on the three-levels down download page. The idea seems neat, but I still have no idea what the idea is.

“Lobo and Risley” is a comic by Gibbs and Keri Rainock. And they do have a website at RainockWorks.com. The description for this comic is “Lobo, A spazmastic zombie dog with a detachable brain, joins forces with Risley, a serious preteen circus pooper-scooper. Together, they are on a mission to protect fuzzy bunnies, obese unicorns and depressive griffins from the mad taxidermist Dr. Apollo.” It appears to have an excess of plot. But some of the drawings are rather nice.

Alcatraz High is a comic book by a native San Diegan Bobby Rubio (note to myself, interview him for SDB) — the art style is very nice. Apparently this guy went to Morse High School and now works at Nickelodeon Studios. Very professional look.

“Bliss on Tap Publishing” purportedly has a comic called “God The Dyslexic Dog” — their flyer is printed like a glossy comic book cover, and has some nice art but I can’t find any kind of website for them. The creator lives in Universal City and is named B. Paul Husband with an email address of paul.husband (at) husband.com. Intriguing but frustrating. The title is good for a laugh. Though wasn’t that a Steven Wright gag?

Disney Comics was there in force. W.I.T.C.H is a very anime inspired looking comic about a group of teenage witches. Feh. The one interesting thing is a url for Accademia Disney Italy, where you can learn what it takes to be a freelancer for Disney Comics. They have a training location in Milan where artists are trained when Disney has a need.

Men of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the birth of the Comic Book by Gerard Jones looks good. It comes out in October from Basic Books. The description from powells.com is wonderful: “Springing unheralded out of working-class Jewish immigrant neighborhoods in the depths of the Depression, these young men transformed an odd mix of geekdom, science fiction, and outsider yearnings into blue-eyed, chisel-nosed crime-fighters and adventurers who quickly captured the mainstream imagination. Within a few years their inventions were being read by 90% of American children and had spawned a new genre in movies, radio and TV that still dominates youth entertainment seventy years later.”

Spider-Man: the ’67 Collection is a 6-DVD collection of the original animated series. Well, in those days they just called them cartoons. The description on this postcard is: “All 52 episodes of Spider-Man’s original 1967 television series, now completely restored in full color and bursting with spectacular action!” Okay.

Remember Micronauts? innerspaceonline.com is your source for names, parts listings, sticker sheets and news about Micronauts. The Space Warriors were super-cool toys. A few years ago when I was ebay-ing much more, I used to look for Micronauts. But the prices were, and are, way too high.

Fantagraphics does cool publishing. The coolest thing of late is a reprinting “The Complete Peanuts: Dailies & Sundays 1950-1952.” It looks really wonderful. Other stuff they do that looks cool are stuff by the Hernandez Brothers and their reprintings of Pogo and Krazy Kat.

Drawn Together is “Television’s First Animated Reality Show” and will be coming in October on Comedy Central. It looks utterly crass and tasteless. There’s a pseudo Betty Boop character flashing pixelated breasts; an orange Pokemon-ish character who appears to have an electric temper; a yellow Spongebob-meets-Stimpy character chugging a beer bong — loaded up by a pink pig in pants; an Elfquest-looking male character with a prominent package reading a magazine called “Dude’z Health”; and most prominently – two busty female characters – one black and sort of Josie and the Pussycats in a tiger-orange bikini — and one woman white and brunette in a green bathing suit and looking like some sort of evil Queen from a Disney film. Would it surprise you to know that they’re in a hot tub — making out? Feh. The last character is a male superhero oogling the girls. Bleagh. But I suppose we do live in a Reality TV world. :-

Burlyman Entertainment looks interesting. It looks like a company owned by Matrix creators The Wachowski Brothers. Geof Darrow does art on a comic called “Shaolin Cowboy” that looks like another hyper-violent goofy-fest. I love Geof’s work — but the gore sometimes even wears me out, and I’m a fan. There’s also a title called “The Matrix Comics” — an anthology that I looked at but decided against for now.

Life’s so Rad by Rad Comics is an online comic that comes out Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Looks like it’s worth another visit.

THX 1138 is being re-released and looks pretty nifty. I think this was actually covered on slashdot a few weeks ago.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is coming out September 17, 2004 and looks impressive. The first one is a minor cyberpunk classic. Not sure if this one will be as good. Again, worth watching out for. Oh, Go Fish Pictures is actually a sub-brand of DreamWorks – for anime stuff I guess. Interesting.

Oh, and here’s a snapping bracelet for Anacondas: The Hunt for the Blood Orchid. Dare I look at the trailer? I dare, I dare. … Now I’ve looked. Wow, that looks BAAAAAAD. I saw pieces of the first Anaconda, and I thought that looked bad. At least that one had Jennifer Lopez. This one just has a girl who sort of reminds you of J.Lo. Whew.

There’s a soundtrack coming out for Freaks and Geeks. I’ll have to send these postcards to my sister. She digs that show.

If you can believe it, there’s more. But that’s for another time.

Good night!

Exposing oneself to others ideas

One of the cool things about having family here last week and before was being exposed to their tastes and thoughts.

My sister’s boyfriend D. has some really cool tastes. Here are some of them:

James Kochalka’s American Elf is one. He has an interesting pitch for supporting his site:

American Elf: the Sketchbook Diaries of James Kochalka is a subscription-based website. That means you have to pay a little bit of money to access the archives (though the latest comic, on the homepage, is always free). The price for new readers is currently $1.95/month. That’s a lot less than a beer, or a movie — and it buys you thirty days’ worth of webcomics enjoyment (as well as access to the Internet-only MP3’s that James has been posting in the “goodies” section — he’s also a pretty well known rock star, you know). Most importantly, James himself pockets 70% of the money you send (the rest goes to maintain the site, and such stuff as that). You can think of this as modern-day patronage of the arts: your money insures that James can, among other things, pay his rent, buy art supplies, and continue to create new comics.

He’s also a fan of the excellent gadget blog Gizmodo — I get gizmodo news via places like Boing Boing and J-Walk.

He also likes The Inquirer, no, not that Inquirer. This one is a snarky tech news site.

And here’s a buddy of his Safe as Milk — I’ll be checking this one out again. In the future, you know, EVERYBODY will have a blog.

Same Difference is a comic by Derek Kirk Kim that looks promising.

D. fascinates me because if you met him — well, when I met him — I thought “here’s a guy who’s a classic indy rock type fellow” – likes everything to be super-underground and alternative. It would be easy to sterotype him — but you’d be wrong. The big curveball for me is he’s a giant football fan. Like rabid.

I really dig that he’s a good conversationalist – always with points of view that I would not expect.

That’s really all I have to say about that.

Comic Con Post on San Diego Blog Continues to Grow

I keep updating this thread. So many tasty links! San Diego Blog — Con: More. More. More

Al’s got photos!

I like Al’s latest gallery: upwards

Leah Peterson’s Latest Work

Oooh. Leah painted last week and came out with two really wonderful paintings — in a style that combines some of her “trees” work — which she used to sell as individual prints — and some of her abstract, large canvasses.

On Saturday she was interviewed for a documentary and enjoyed herself quite a bit.

Her latest work is currently for sale at:
Mixture
2210 Kettner Blvd
San Diego, CA 92102

Here’s a taste…

If you’re interested in commissioning a piece, contact her at her site at leahpeah.com.

Oh Snap! Cory Doctorow went OFF on Gizmodo!

iTunes Smart Playlist: “where song title contains “dead”

I swear this is not morbid.

  1. Already Dead – Beck
  2. Better Off Dead – Randy Newman
  3. Daisy Dead Petals – Tori Amos
  4. Dead – They Might Be Giants
  5. Dead End Job – The Police
  6. Dead Flowers – Townes Van Zandt
  7. Dead Girls Of London – Frank Zappa
  8. Dead Girls Of London – Frank Zappa
  9. Dead Man’s Party – Oingo Boingo
  10. Dead Melodies – Beck
  11. Dead Shark – Liz Phair
  12. Dead Souls – Joy Division
  13. Deadbeat – Revenge
  14. Deadbeat (Gary Clail Remix) – Revenge
  15. Deadbeat Club – The B-52’s
  16. Drop Dead – Frank Zappa
  17. Exquisite Dead Guy – They Might Be Giants
  18. Gone Dead Train – Randy Newman
  19. I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead – Warren Zevon
  20. I’m Dead (But I Don’t Know it) – Randy Newman
  21. Last Dead Mouse – The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
  22. Pretend We’re Dead – L7
  23. Seven Deadly Sins – Bryan Ferry
  24. She Is Not Dead – Adrian Belew
  25. Song For The Dead – Randy Newman

Let’s look at some headers!

For some time I’ve been making headers for this site. Tonight I redesigned that page to include thumbnails for the individual headers. I strive to make some kind of artistic something with these. I sometimes succeed. Looking back, there are some really nice ones.

I made these thumbnails with webkit2png – an awesome command line tool for taking screenshots with Safari. So here are some favorites: Here’s a dark one, based on some photos taken in Coronado by Leah – during a rainstorm:
2004-02-26
Two of my favorites are holiday related:
2003-12-04 2001-12-24
And another one based on Leah‘s photography. Taken in front of the South Park sign, it’s probably the one the most people sent me mail on. People can be very complimentary.
2003-11-11
Here’s one from when the fires were happening:
2003-10-27
This one is very pretty, taken at the flower fields in Carlsbad:
2001-03-22
Here’s a before/after from my haircut during the Summer of 2000:
2000-01-14 2000-09-12
This one is the largest, with a big old photo of me, again by Leah
2003-09-23
In this one, my head GLOWS!
2003-04-12
I like this one, kind of a “nude descending the staircase” / multiverse version of me – I took that one at the Gaslamp trolley stop:
2003-02-15
In this one from 2001 I asked “I wonder if anyone is reading this” — a few people were.
2001-04-12
And here’s where I got a little political about the War on Terror:
2001-10-14
And in this one I say: “Onward”:
2002-09-11
Onward.

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